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Marshall, John

Born September 24, 1755, in Prince William County, VA
Died July 6, 1835, in Philadelphia, PA

Federal Judicial Service:
Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Nominated by John Adams on January 20, 1801, to a seat vacated by Oliver Ellsworth. Confirmed by the Senate on January 27, 1801, and received commission on January 31, 1801. Service terminated on July 6, 1835, due to death.

Supreme Court Oath:
February 4, 1801

Allotment as Circuit Justice:

Fifth Circuit, April 29, 1802-July 6, 1835

Education:
College of William and Mary, 1780

Professional Career:

Culpeper County [Virginia] Minutemen lieutenant, 1775-1776
Continental Army lieutenant, Eleventh Virginia Regiment, 1776-1780
Private practice, Fauquier County, Virginia, 1780-1783
Private practice, Richmond, Virginia, 1783-1797
State delegate, Virginia, 1782, 1784-1785, 1787-1788
Member, Virginia Council of State, 1782-1784
Recorder, Richmond City [Virginia] Hustings Court, 1785-1788
Delegate, Virginia convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution, 1788
Minister to France, U.S. Department of State, 1797-1798
U.S. representative from Virginia, 1799-1800
Secretary of State, 1800-1801

Bibliography

Ackerman, Bruce.The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2005.

Beveridge, Albert J.The Life of John Marshall, vol. 1-4. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1916-9.

Boudin, Louis B. “John Marshall and Roger B. Taney.”Georgetown Law Journal, vol. 24, no. 4 (May 1936): 864-909.

Brisbin, Richard A., Jr. “John Marshall and the Nature of Law in the Early Republic.”Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 98, no. 1 (Jan. 1990): 57-80.

Brookhiser, Richard. John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court. New York: Basic Books, 2018.

Burton, Harold H. “‘Justice the Guardian of Liberty’: John Marshall at the Trial of Aaron Burr.”American Bar Association Journal, vol. 37, no. 10 (Oct. 1951): 735-738; 785-88.

Bryan, George.The Imperialism of John Marshall: A Study in Expediency. Boston, Mass.: Stratford Co., 1924.

Campbell, Thomas P. “Chancellor Kent, Chief Justice Marshall, and the Steamboat Cases.”Syracuse Law Review, vol. 25, no. 2 (Spring 1974): 497-534.

Cullen, Charles T. “New Light on John Marshall’s Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.”American Journal of Legal History, vol. 16, no. 4 (Oct. 1972): 345-51.

Custer, Lawrence B. “Bushrod Washington and John Marshall: A Preliminary Inquiry.”American Journal of Legal History, vol. 4, no. 1 (Jan. 1960): 34-48.

Cross, Jack L. “John Marshall on the French Revolution and on American Politics.”William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 4 (Oct. 1955): 631-49.

Dillon, John F., ed.John Marshall; life, character and judicial services as portrayed in the centenary and memorial addresses and proceedings throughout the United States on Marshall day, 1901, and in the classic orations of Binney, Story, Phelps, Waite and Rawle. Chicago: Callaghan and Co., 1903.

Dickinson, Marquis F.John Marshall. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1901.

Dodd, William E. “Chief Justice Marshall and Virginia, 1813-21.”American Historical Review, vol. 12, no. 4 (Jul. 1907): 776-87.

Faulkner, Robert K. “John Marshall and the Burr Trial.”Journal of American History, vol. 53, no. 2 (Sep. 1966): 247-58.

Foran, William A. “John Marshall as a Historian.”The American Historical Review, vol. 43, no. 1 (Oct. 1943): 51-64.

Frankfurter, Felix. “John Marshall and the Judicial Function.”Harvard Law Review, vol. 69, no. 2 (Dec. 1955): 217-38.

Gaines, Clarence H. “John Marshall and the Spirit of America.”North American Review, vol. 205, no. 735 (Feb. 1917): 287-92.

Goldberg, Arthur J. “Attorney General Meese vs. Chief Justice Marshall and Justice Hugo L. Black.”Alabama Law Review, vol. 38, no. 2 (Winter 1987): 237-48.

Gordon, Douglas H. “John Marshall: The Fourth Chief Justice.”American Bar Association Journal, vol. 41, no. 8 (Aug. 1955): 698-702, 766-71.

Gunther, Gerald. “Unearthing John Marshall’s Major Out-of-Court Constitutional Commentary: John Marshall, a Friend of the Constitution: In Defense and Elaboration of McCulloch v. Maryland: Introduction.”Stanford Law Review, vol. 21, no. 3 (Feb. 1969): 449-55.

Hobson, Charles F. “Defining the Office: John Marshall as Chief Justice.”University of Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 154, no. 6 (Jun. 2006): 1421-61.

________.The Great Chief Justice: John Marshall and the Rule of Law. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1996.

Johnson, Herbert Alan.The Chief Justiceship of John Marshall, 1801-1835. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997.

Jones, William Melville, ed.Chief Justice John Marshall: A Reappraisal. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1956.

Konefsky, Samuel Joseph.John Marshall and Alexander Hamilton: Architects of the American Constitution. New York: MacMillan, 1967.

Kutler, Stanley I., ed.John Marshall. New York: Prentiss-Hall, 1972.

Lerner, Max. “John Marshall and the Campaign of History.”Columbia Law Review, vol. 39, no. 3 (Mar. 1939): 396-431.

Lodge, Henry Cabot. “John Marshall, Statesman.”North American Review, vol. 172, no. 531 (Feb. 1901): 191-204.

Marshall, John and Joseph Story.An Autobiographical Sketch by John Marshall: Written at the Request of Joseph Story and Now Printed for the First Time from the Original Manuscript Preserved at the William L. Clements Library, Together with a Letter from Chief Justice Marshall to Justice Story Relating Thereto. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1937.

McLaughlin, Andrew C. “The Life of John Marshall.”American Bar Association Journal, vol. 7, no. 5 (May 1921): 231-33.

Moore, John Bassett.John Marshall. Boston: Glinn and Co., 1901.

Moses, Adolph. “The Friendship between Marshall and Story.” American Law Review, vol. 35, no. 3 (May-Jun. 1901): 321-42.

Newmyer, Kent R.John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001.

Palmer, Ben W.Marshall and Taney: Statesmen of the Law. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1939.

Paul, Joel Richard.Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and his Times. New York: Riverhead, 2018.

Powell, Lewis F. “Supreme Court Justices from Virginia.”The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 84, no. 2 (Apr. 1976): 131-41.

Ramage, B.J. “John Marshall, Southern Federalist.”Sewanee Review, vol. 9, no. 2 (Apr. 1901): 129-55.

Rudko, Frances Howell.John Marshall on International Law: Statesman and Chief Justice. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.

Severn, Bill.John Marshall, the Man who made the Court Supreme. New York: D. McKay Co., 1969.

Simon, James F.What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001.

Six, Fred N. “Chief Justice John Marshall – Justice Bushrod Washington.”Journal of the Kansas Bar Association, vol. 41, no. 4 (Winter 1972): 349-56.

Smith, Jean Edward.John Marshall: Definer of a Nation. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996.

Smith, William Raymond. “The Necessity of the Circumstances: John Marshall’s Historical Method.”The Historian, vol. 26, no. 1 (Nov. 1963): 19-35.

Steinberg, Alfred.John Marshall. New York: Putnam, 1962.

Stites, Francis N.John Marshall: Defender of the Constitution. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1981.

Swindler, William F. “John Marshall’s Preparation for the Bar – Some Observations on His Law Notes.”American Journal of Legal History, vol. 11, no. 2 (Apr. 1967): 207-13.

Thayer, James Bradley.John Marshall. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1904.

Unger, Harlow Giles.John Marshall: The Chief Justice who Saved the Nation. Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2016.

Wilmarth, Arthur E., Jr. “Elusive Foundation: John Marshall, James Wilson, and the Problem of Reconciling Popular Sovereignty and Natural Law Jurisprudence in the New Federal Republic.”George Washington University Law Review, vol. 72, no. 1-2 (Dec. 2003): 113-96. 

Wilson, John R. “John Marshall.”American Law Review, vol. 22 (1888): 706-30.

Symposium: Chief Justice John Marshall, A Symposium.University of Pennsylvania law Review, vol. 104, no. 1 (Oct. 1955): 1-68.

Manuscript Collections

American Philosophical Society
Philadelphia, Pa.

John Marshall opinions delivered in the circuit court of the United States, 1803-1831.
62 items; collection contains manuscript drafts of U.S. circuit court opinions.

Duke University
Rubenstein Library
Durham, N.C.

John Marshall papers, 1816-1933.
3 items; includes 1816 and 1824 letters from Marshall.

The Filson Club Historical Society
Louisville, Ky.

Marshall family papers, 1815-1897.
0.66 cubic ft.; correspondence.

Harvard Law School
Cambridge, Mass.

John Marshall letters, 1822-1834.
4 items; one note and three letters from Marshall.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pa.

John Marshall receipt books, 1775-1786.
2 vols.; collection contains Marshall's receipt books.

John Marshall Law School
Chicago, Ill.

Collection of materials on John Marshall.
Photos and personal correspondence.

Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.

Albert J. Beveridge collection of the papers of John Marshall, 1776-1844.
300 items; finding aid; papers consisting primarily of material Albert J. Beveridge gathered for his research on Marshall, which includes copies of correspondence, journals, account books, and other papers.

Library of Virginia
Richmond, Va.

Manuscripts from the John Marshall House, 1771-1835.
56 leaves, 1 oversize box, 1 microfilm reel; includes correspondence, deeds, military commissions, and a memorial to Mary Marshall written by John Marshall on December 25, 1832.

John Marshall accounts and law notes, 1783-1795.
1 microfilm reel, 676 p.

Marshall family papers, 1786 and undated.
6 pp.; collection contains Marshall's legal papers, and miscellaneous letters and documents.

John Marshall will, 1832.
5 leaves; typescript copy of will dated April 9, 1832, and containing codicils dated August 13, 1832, March 29, 1834, November 6, 1834, and July 3, 1835.

Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston, Mass.

John Marshall Paris journal, 1797-1798.
59 leaves, 1 microfilm reel; finding aid; manuscript copy of journal kept by Marshall, September 27, 1797, to April 1, 1798, describing the XYZ Affair.

Virginia Historical Society
Richmond, Va.

John Marshall papers, 1771-1835.
ca. 50 items; finding aid; material concerning Marshall's residence in Richmond.

College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, Va.

John Marshall papers, 1776-1879.
282 items and 2 vols.; finding aid; collection contains letters, law notes, accounts, and other papers.